Depending on the time period involved you may wish to look for era specific businesses. In many cases, these types of licenses are recorded and held by government agencies. Other business that may be licensed can be found by searching for types of business licenses in each jurisdiction.

−

Depending on the time period involved you may wish to look for era specific businesses. In many cases, these types of licenses are recorded and held by government employee

Introduction

There have always been business records but the challenge to genealogists is that they are seldom identified as genealogical records. Governments from the earliest times have issued permits and licenses to allow businesses to operate. Also from the earliest times there have guilds and trade unions governing the activities of their members and keeping records. Many businesses have also produced biographical collections of the company's officers and employees. In the Unites States publicly owned companies often produce an annual report in printed form. Cities have produced city directories listing all of the businesses in the city and included, in many cases, all of the residents. It is also important not to overlook advertisement which may contain information about the owners or operators of a business.

Many of these business records have been preserved in various libraries and other record repositories.

Some commonly available business records include or are included in the following:

Mortuary records

Farming and agricultural records

Slaves, Apprentices and Indentured Servants

Insurance records

Newspapers

Union records

Mining records

Business formation records

Churches

Railroads

Shipping and other transportation records

Business licenses and bonds

Professional licenses

Medical and Dental office records

Photography businesses

Business and other types of directories

Utility records

There are many more possible categories which can be suggested by studying the types of records that may have been created in the course of the business operation.

All of the larger online genealogical record databases contain some business records. Some of these online sources are available only by subscription but check with your local FamilySearch Center to see if these online sources are available to patrons for free. Here are some online sources that contain business records:

Be sure to check the availability of business records in local, county and state libraries and other state record repositories. Check the list of state libraries on PublicLibraries.com

You may also wish to check each of the state's secretary of state and corporation commission for old records. For a list of the varios secretaries of state of the states see Coordinated Legal Tech. For a list of the various corporation commissions see Federal Communication Commission however, no links are provided and you will need to search for a webpage for each of the entities listed.

Mortuary records

It is not too unusual for mortuaries or funeral homes to preserve their records for a considerable period of time. Even when the mortuary is sold, sometimes the records are maintained by the new owner. As is the case with most business related records, you have to spend some time researching the geographic area where your ancestor lived in order to determine which mortuary may have been involved with the internment. In some cases, the identity of the mortuary may be recorded in the cemetery records. There is also the possibility that the mortuary donated its older records to a local historical society, library or state archive.

Apprentices and indentured servant's masters paid for their passage in return for labor. Indenture and apprentice records often mention birthplace or residence.

An apprenticeship consisted of a contract between two parties, one of which is usually a minor (the “apprentice”) who is bound to the other person (the “master”) to serve him for a stated period of time, during which the master agrees to teach the apprentice an art, skill, or trade while providing complete maintenance. The agreement may include a grant of money, clothing, and/or property upon completion of the term.

On completion of an apprenticeship, an apprentice might become a Journeyman, although in early colonial America that term was not prevalent -- the apprentice simply became a paid servant. See Henry Campbell Black, Black's Law Dictionary, Fourth Edition (St. Paul:1951), West Publishing Co.

An indenture was in general, a deed or contract entered into by two or more parties, defining reciprocal grants, obligations, or commitments among them, including possibly financial, time periods, and other conditions. In genealogy, typically found as “indenture of apprenticeship”--generally involving a minor--and also “indentured servant” which may or may not involve a minor. See Encyclopedia of Genealogy

Insurance records

From fire insurance maps to databases of historical insurance policies, there are companies that date back into the 1700s providing farm, life, fire and marine insurance. Applicants for policies were asked to provide information about their beneficiaries (usually family members), their lifestyle, health, age, residence and other topics.

Most of the insurance records that are currently available are still held by the individual companies, with some records dating back to the creation of the companies. Few companies provide search services but some do allow proven descendants to search the records to look for information about an ancestor.

Union records

If you suspect that your ancestor worked at a job that could have been subject to labor union organization, then it is worthwhile to search for union records. For more extensive information on the type and location of the records see "Labor Union Records in the United States," prepared by the Committee on Labor Records of the Society of American Archivists in 1962. For later time periods see the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs is the largest labor archive in North America.

Mining records

There are mining records for every state where there are mines. These records may be kept in a mining museum or archive. Here are some examples of the types of repositories that might contain mining records:

You may wish to do a search for mining records with the state of origin.

Business formation records

Usually, when a new business is formed, the people forming the business have to file some legal documents to transact business in a given jurisdiction. For example, a new business being formed as a corporation, will have to file with the State department that regulates corporations. In some jurisdictions, such as cities, any business must have a business license to operate. At the same time, the business entity may also have been required to obtain a county and a state license, usually for tax purposes. These records are likely available for many years depending on the jurisdiction. They might contain quite a lot of information about the people forming the business. Unfortunately, it is rare that older records have been digitized and put online. Current records, going back as far as a hundred years, may be online. If you find that an ancestor conducted some kind of business it is important to search the business records in the all the pertinent jurisdictions.

Churches

Most churches are also businesses. If your ancestor was a minister, paster or otherwise worked for a church, there will be employment records as well as other routine business correspondence. From this standpoint, you would not be concentrating on the records kept by the church about its members or adherents, but the records of the operation of the church itself. Unfortunately, these types of records are not usually found online. You will need to go to the headquarters of the church in question to find the records and request permission to search them.

For directories of churches, see the following and similar websites. Do a search on the terms, "church directories lists."

Some of the directories may be denominational specific so you might have to search on the denomination also. You may also need to determine whether the records are maintained on a local level, regional or national level.

Railroads

There are quite a number of online helps for locating railroad records. If you suspect that your ancestor may have worked for the railroad, then it is worthwhile to search for railroad records. Here are some suggested websites;

Shipping and other transportation records

Shipping and transportation records can take a variety of forms, including employment records, government regulations and port of call records. These types of records are for the most part privately held and not necessarily accessible. You may be able to find the names and addresses of your ancestors' employers through trade association directories and trade journals.

Depending on the time period involved you may wish to look for era specific businesses. In many cases, these types of licenses are recorded and held by government agencies. Other business that may be licensed can be found by searching for types of business licenses in each jurisdiction.